Comparing Anzia Yezierskas Bread Givers and Soap and Water Essay

Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers and Soap and Water       In Anzia Yezierska's works Bread Givers and "Soap and Water", she uses similar aspects of the characters that portray her own life. Both of the stories resemble similarities of Yezierska's life and appear to be autobiographical to her personal experiences. The author portrays, in both the stories, a belief that the majority culture is "clean" while the minority culture is dirty. Sarah in Bread Givers and the narrator in "Soap and Water" each have a hunger that drive them in different directions: actual hunger for food, progress into society and a hunger for knowledge. The ladies in both of the stories share similar desires: to become a teacher, go to college, and feed a constant hunger. Though the stories are alike they differ in some areas: outcomes of college life, self -portrayal and chances of getting started in the professional world.    Yezierska's work appears to reflect her own lifestyle. In fact, since the use of the first person narration many think that her work his autobiographical. Most of her works portray the Immigrant woman is in pursuit of the American dream (Drucker 1-3).   Like the Characters in Yezierska's stories Bread Givers and "Soap and Water", Yezierska had the same goals and accomplishments and came from a similar background: going to college, becoming a teacher, working in the laundry business and being raised in poverty. Although the stories resemble Yezierska's life, they are not, according to her daughter, completely accountable. According to Henriksen's "A Writers Life", he claims Yezierska's daughter warns against the accuracy of her mother's writing. "Although most of her writing was autobiographical, she was inc... ...ctions: actual hunger for food, progress into society and a hunger for knowledge. The hunger is what leads them to their ultimate goal.    Works Cited Druker, Sally. Homepage. 15 April 2014.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.georgetown.edu/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/yezierska.html Ebest, Ron. "Anzia Yezierska and the Popular Periodical Debate Over the Jews." Melus. Spring 2000 http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2278/1_25/63323838/p1/article.jhtml?term=Anzia+and%20the+the+popular+periodical+debate Prentice-Hall. Homepage. 14 April 2014. http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/keating/chapter6/custom17/deluxe-content.html Yezierska, Anzia. Bread Givers. New York: Persea Books, 1925. ---. "Soap and Water." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. New York: Persea Books, 1991. 105-110.